Cruz campaign establishes prayer team

Take a look at some of the most notable moments from Cruz' bid for the White House.

The Ted Cruz campaign is launching a prayer team.

Take a look at some of the most notable moments from Cruz' bid for the White House.

Photo: (c) Lisa Valder

Photo: (c) Lisa Valder

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The Ted Cruz campaign is launching a prayer team.

Take a look at some of the most notable moments from Cruz' bid for the White House.

The Ted Cruz campaign is launching a prayer team.

Take a look at some of the most notable moments from Cruz' bid for the White House.

Photo: (c) Lisa Valder

Cruz campaign establishes prayer team

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It's a long way to Election Day 2016 and an even longer way to heaven, but Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz's campaign is planning to call upon the deity starting next week with a "national prayer team."

"I don't have a political or tactical angle on it," Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler told the New York Times. "It is what it is. It's a group of people who wanted to get together and pray for Ted and his wife and the nation as a whole."

Prayer team members will receive weekly emailed prayer requests and have the opportunity to participate in a 20-minute "prayer conference call" each Tuesday.

Cruz, the junior U.S. senator from Texas, has made freedom of religion a key component of his campaign. He is the son of Cuban immigrant Rafael Cruz, a businessman-turned-evangelical preacher. Presidential candidate Cruz said he found God as a child at Houston's Clay Road Baptist Church; he currently is a member of Houston's First Baptist Church.

In announcing the prayer team, Cruz's campaign asserted it would "establish a direct line of communication between our campaign and the thousands of Americans who are lifting us up before the Lord."